We share our experiences with the doctoral study process from the views of both students and professors. In a linear fashion, we offer our perspectives on the various decision points and pain points inherent in the modern doctoral dissertation, with an eye toward the strategies, resources, and personal touches that made it work. We conclude with…

This study illuminates the rich and unique experiences of alumni who successfully completed a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.). During two open-ended interview sessions, eight participants revealed the barriers they encountered and successfully navigated to complete their doctoral programs. Some findings align with previously known barriers from extant…

According to the United States Department of Education, 42.4% of postbaccalaureate students participated in online distance education during Fall of 2019. These numbers increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic of March 2020. The pandemic not only created a severe social and economic disruption, but it also disrupted all levels of education. This…

This research study was conducted to explore faith integration and learning practices and its possible effect on student and faculty relationships. The research study utilized a phenomenological approach to collect data. Eighteen students and 10 faculty participated in this study. Participants were asked questions about faith integration and…

In this article we extend the idea of humanizing an online course to humanizing within a cohort-based online doctoral program. We provide examples of humanizing through student agency, faculty presence and peer presence across the main stages of doctoral work in the United States: transition and adjustment, coursework and the process of attaining…

This exploratory sequential mixed-methods case study explores the relationship between perceived self-efficacy and faculty mentorship with biomedical sciences graduate students. The intent of the study was to understand the extent at which faculty mentorship contributes to self-efficacy development in the population of biomedical sciences doctoral…

While higher education (HE) research has long recognized the importance of providing emotional support to doctoral students, empirical inquiries have barely investigated doctoral supervisors' practice from the perspective of extrinsic emotion regulation. The current qualitative study used the framework of extrinsic emotion regulation (Gross 2014,…

Despite the significant contributions of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars to scientific research, the environments in which they work and learn often offer inconsistent mentorship and professional development opportunities and only intermittently address their mental, financial, and social well-being. To examine mentorship, well-being,…

This study examines the experiences of African American doctoral students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States. Data were obtained from ten HBCUs that are doctorate degree-granting institutions. Program satisfaction, coursework, faculty-student relationship, and research satisfaction were designated as…

The convenience and flexibility of online doctoral programs make them popular with working adults. However, online degree programs may lack relationship-building features, making students feel disconnected and isolated. These feelings are more pronounced as students enter their program's dissertation portion as they become responsible for setting…

There is no doubt that supervision plays a significant role in doctoral education. Supervisors have a fiduciary responsibility for guiding their supervisees throughout their doctoral research and theses writing journeys. In recent times however, many doctoral education programmes have adopted a collegial support system for doctoral students by…

Entry-level occupational therapy doctorate (OTD) programs across the United States navigate the challenge of designing doctoral capstone (DC) processes to provide students with adequate scaffolding to plan, implement, evaluate, and disseminate their capstone projects. The DC process starts with the daunting tasks of student generation of capstone…

This study served as an initial investigation into necessary components of successful mentorship at the doctoral level within Counselor Education and Supervision (CES). This study utilized Q methodology to explore the perceptions of thirteen doctoral students who identified as having a CES faculty mentor. Mentorship is a vital component of…

This convergent mixed methods research study investigated how a small, non-representative sample of Educational Doctorate (EdD) faculty perceive and use generative AI and how they have leveraged the technology to support EdD students. A cross-sectional survey was used to gather data from 27 EdD faculty members to assess their generative AI…

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the perspectives of All-But-Dissertation (ABD) students who are currently enrolled in an ABD completion program after failing to complete their dissertations with their initial institutions of higher education and to then inform the higher education community about what ABD students need to be…